Rangers missed out on Aston Villa’s Joleon Lescott, and Joey Barton could be pleased.
Southampton’s Shane Long in action with Aston Villa’s Joleon Lescott
Rangers missed out on signing defender Joleon Lescott last week, with the player’s switch from Aston Villa falling through.
SkySports reported the deal fell through due to family reasons, and the centre-back’s next move remains unclear.
One Rangers player who may be glad not to have Lescott as a teammate is former adversary Joey Barton.
Joey Barton applauds fans as he is substituted
The duo clashed when Barton was sent off for QPR against Manchester City in 2012, for an incident which saw the midfielder pick up a lengthy ban.
Lescott was seen putting his hands on Barton as he sought to stop the QPR man’s attack on his teammates, and there was more to it than that.
The Mirror reported: “In his evidence, according to the (FA) commission report, Barton said that Joleon Lescott had told him “he would see him in the tunnel.”
“Barton also told the commission that he thought Lescott may have pushed his head towards Kompany, but that explanation was rejected as “unconvincing””
Queens Park Rangers Joey Barton clashes with Manchester City’s Vincent Kompany after kicking Sergio Aguero
Manchester City won that particular game and the title and thoughts of a fight with Barton after the game likely quickly disappeared, but it was clear there was little love between the pair of them.
Barton has patched up previous differences with opponents, Karl Henry for instance, and could have got on just fine with Lescott, but he will not have to now, and he has been fortunately denied an awkward reunion with the defender.
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